If all these great conservative minds think Romney's is a good choice for conservatives (Rush, Peggy Noonan, National Review, Hugh Hewett, Laura Ingram, etc.), is it not possible that you may be the one who's off, and not them?
Objectively, Romney's only recent conversion was on abortion. He gradually moved to the right on gay rights over a period of 14 years. And he slightly deviates from the conservative position on guns. But that's it. On everything else he's always been a solid conservative.
On gay rights, you've got to give him credit for always staunchly opposing gay marriage. You also have to give him credit for fighting hard to stop it in Massachusetts, at great political cost, even though he ultimately lost that fight. Yes, 14 years ago he supported gays in the military, but now 14 years later he supports the current policy. Hardly a recent change.
His position on guns hasn't changed and is pretty much the same as that of president Bush: good on everything except the assault weapons ban.
He's not without his flaws, but if he's been a consistent conservative on all but three issues, can you not forgive one recent conversion on abortion and small deviations from the conservative view on two other issues?
Well said. I’d add that we should keep it in context that Romney had to govern a very liberal state. If he were to be president he will be free to find policies that are more conservative because the rest of the country as a whole is more conservative than MA. I’d like Thompson to be president, but Romney would be my second choice.